velvetpage: (exterminate)
velvetpage ([personal profile] velvetpage) wrote2008-12-17 06:33 am
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Hypermenorrhea

Hypermenorrhea is sitting through a very important hour-long meeting, all the while calculating the fastest route to the washroom to deal with the inevitable gush when you stand.

Hypermenorrhea is never bothering to buy anything but the overnight-sized pads and super-sized tampons.

Hypermenorrhea is always wearing double protection.

Hypermenorrhea is carrying extra clothing or calling in sick on heaviest days.

Hypermenorrhea is fearing the consequences of a good night's sleep on your mattress and bedding.

Hypermenorrhea is never getting a good night's sleep because every time you shift, you're worried about accidents.

Hypermenorrhea is getting up to a crying child and having to stop at the washroom on the way to comfort her.

Hypermenorrhea is knowing every trick in the book for getting blood out of fabric.

Hypermenorrhea is having a mental catalogue of the side effects of each type of iron pill on your own body.

Hypermenorrhea is not waiting for a doctor to diagnose anemia, but taking iron pills starting the day the bleeding starts to head it off.

Hypermenorrhea is having people tell you that you must be hemorrhaging if you're bleeding that much - and thinking it's actually lighter than last month.

Hypermenorrhea is taking more than the recommended dose of cough syrup, because every cough causes a gush.

Hypermenorrhea is getting pregnant as a way of stopping your periods for a year or two.

Hypermenorrhea is mentioning what's making you sick to your grandmother, and learning that she had the same thing and so did her mother.

Hypermenorrhea is seriously considering the benefits of a DIY hysterectomy.

Hypermenorrhea is wanting to poke out the eyes of, or at least switch uteri with, the next person who bemoans the medicalization of normal bodily functions like menstruation, or suggests that you see your period as a spiritual connection to Mother Earth.

[identity profile] redeem147.livejournal.com 2008-12-17 12:28 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm assuming it's also having a medical condition that's very hard to explain, because even in today's so-called enlightened society, talking about menstruation is still a 'taboo'.

*hugs*

[identity profile] daednu.livejournal.com 2008-12-17 01:21 pm (UTC)(link)
How frustrating :(
althea_valara: Photo of my cat sniffing a vase of roses  (Don't mess with me)

[personal profile] althea_valara 2008-12-17 01:55 pm (UTC)(link)
Hypermenorrhea is wanting to poke out the eyes of, or at least switch uteri with, the next person who bemoans the medicalization of normal bodily functions like menstruation, or suggests that you see your period as a spiritual connection to Mother Earth.

They can has stabbity. *grrs*

[identity profile] jadedissola.livejournal.com 2008-12-17 03:17 pm (UTC)(link)
Hypermenorrhea is wanting to poke out the eyes of, or at least switch uteri with, the next person who bemoans the medicalization of normal bodily functions like menstruation, or suggests that you see your period as a spiritual connection to Mother Earth.

I wish I had the link, but a friend told me that he read this on a blog recently (when I was bitching about my own uterus): "Whenever it's my 'moon time,' I want to punch a pagan in the mouth." I couldn't agree with her more.

Yeah, yeah, "womanhood is a blessing," blah, blah, blah. Look, I'm not ashamed of being a woman. I'm proud of my gender and I'm proud that I brought a precious life into this world, but for the love of deity I do NOT have to like the fact that (whenever I get my period) I spend at least a day being unable to do anything due to pain, fatigue, and that I feel like the Goodyear blimp due to bloating. It is unreasonable to expect that every woman on the planet can have properly functioning reprodutive organs. It's especially rude to assume that a woman who is seeking a hysterectomy has not already considered every other option. Any sane person does not go out seeking out major surgery, especially when you consider that you have to take time out from work, worry about child care, recovery time, etc.

I hope you feel better soon. :-\

[identity profile] hillarygayle.livejournal.com 2008-12-17 05:09 pm (UTC)(link)
If your period is a spiritual connection to Mother Earth, then you guys have one of the most supremely fucked up mother-daughter relationships in the history of menstruation.

That is all.

[identity profile] quaero-verum.livejournal.com 2008-12-17 05:12 pm (UTC)(link)
Bleh.


So what's the latest thinking on the hystorectomy? Is that still on the table, or are you going to try and learn to live with this?

*huuuuuge hugs*

[identity profile] amazonvera.livejournal.com 2008-12-17 05:58 pm (UTC)(link)
:(. I'm sorry, sweetie. Hopefully these will all be problems of the past very soon.

[identity profile] kisekileia.livejournal.com 2008-12-17 06:44 pm (UTC)(link)
*hugs*
I hope you can get a non-DIY hysterectomy soon. I hope the docs weigh whatever benefits 'waiting another cycle' might possibly have (and I can't see any, since your periods are so far from being anything close to livable now) against the mental anguish you're experiencing now.

wow, i totally empathise

[identity profile] jsl32.livejournal.com 2008-12-17 08:37 pm (UTC)(link)
i had menorrhagia with moderate hypermenorrhea (more random, less heavy overall), which is now down to v. mild hypermenorrhea and i still have many of the worries you've described.

i hope you don't have to get a full hysterectomy, or even a partial one, but every woman's body is different and sometimes it is necessary to preserve overall health.

i completely empathise with the ranting against earth momma types fetishising menstruation (and refusing to admit that many 'natural' bodily functions go awry, of which menstruation is hardly unique).

i mentioned on another lady's lj shepherd's purse and yarrow root-- they are vasoconstrictors, and they work for some women with hypermenorrhea.

i hope you can find a permanent fix so you can get back to living life without so much suffering.

[identity profile] loxian.livejournal.com 2008-12-17 10:12 pm (UTC)(link)
This sounds absolutely bloody awful. Do people really come out with that Sister Moon crap? I'm all about syncretism and healing herbs and what have you, but I killed my periods stone dead with hormonal birth control at the age of 16, and never looked back. I hope you get to take vengeance on the uterus soon. Rest plenty, please...

[identity profile] mrs-dm.livejournal.com 2008-12-18 01:53 am (UTC)(link)
That's a great poem (or prose, I guess).

You should give it to your gynecologist and your family doctor.

P.S. I'd advise against the DIY hysterectomy:)

[identity profile] kesmun.livejournal.com 2008-12-20 10:23 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, god yes on the last one.

It's also (not really) joking about "If I were bleeding this much from anywhere else, I would be a murder victim!"

[identity profile] frolicnaked.livejournal.com 2009-03-08 06:36 am (UTC)(link)
Hypermenorrhea is menstruating with enough force that your vagina pushes out the overflowing menstrual cup it contains.

Hypermenorrhea is putting down a towel *plus* a garbage bag for period sex and staining your mattress pad anyway.

Hypermenorrhea is starting the day with a sweater wrapped around your waist -- so that by the time you bleed through your pants (at 10am), the "shield" is already in place.

And I'm actually sharing this one in confidence, but:

Hypermenorrhea is *not recognizing* having a miscarriage because you always bleed this much (or more).